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The Art of Meeting (And Making) New Friends

Despite how connected our society is through technology, more and more people today struggle to build and sustain in-person relationships. During our day-to-day lives of working, coming home, sleeping, waking up and repeating the whole process over again, it can be challenging to actually meet new people… and then find the time to build friendships.

In fact, there is a genuine skill to meeting new people and establishing relationships with them. And, you don’t even have to be a social butterfly to master it! Here are some tips on the art of meeting (and making) new friends.

Invite your neighbors over.
One of the simplest ways to get to know people is to meet those right around you. Your neighbors are already in the same community as you, so get to know them better by inviting them over to your house for a cup of coffee or dinner.

Join a hobby club.
No matter what you love to do, there is a club for that. Evaluate your interests and see if you can find a club or organization in your area with like-minded people. If you don’t have any hobbies, then find the most intriguing clubs and pick one to start with!

Go to a coffee shop.
Coffee shops are full of different, fascinating people. If you want to meet new friends, go to a coffee shop and hang out there for a day. Read a book, work on a project and take the opportunity to say hello to someone next to you and get to know them.

Start with a compliment.
Everyone loves feeling flattered, so an easy way to start a new conversation is with a compliment. Give out genuine, positive compliments to the people around you to serve as social lubricant and let the conversation flow.

Consider your body language.
Body language is an important—yet often overlooked—part of communication. As you talk with other people, subtly evaluate your own body language. Keep your torso, chest and abdomen open as a way to show approachability, and avoid crossing your arms, checking your phone or hiding your hands.

Ask intriguing questions.
Remember: people love talking about themselves. So, help build the relationship quickly by asking intriguing questions whenever possible. Personal questions show your interest in the other person, and can accelerate the intimacy in the relationship. Therefore, skip the small talk when you can and focus on deeper subjects that really matter.

Volunteer for a cause.
If you want to meet new friends and make a difference for a cause you care about, why not do both at the same time? Volunteer with an organization in your community and get to know people who have similar interests as you. The more you serve, the more people you can meet and stronger friendships you build.

Take the leap.
Ultimately, the best way to meet new people and make new friends is to take the leap and put yourself out there. It can be scary to try and make friends—particularly for fear of rejection. But, without an initial effort, you will never meet new friends. Dig down deep to muster up the courage so you can get out of your comfort zone and build new relationships.

Despite being more connected than we have ever been before, people today still struggle with meeting others and building relationships. But, making friends isn’t something exclusive to social butterflies—it’s a skill you can learn and practice. Try out these tips so you can master the beautiful art of meeting and making new friends.

Our Mission Is To
Provide high quality homeownership and financial education to the low and moderate income community. To identify and provide training opportunities for real estate professionals to better serve this community.

WE ACTIVELY SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY
Our Community Involvement
At HREBA we are highly active within the communities we serve. We love providing resources to help educate, promote, and support home ownership. We have recruited the best speakers and presenters to provide quality education at the many workshops we host.

We have conducted several homebuyer workshops to low and moderate income families in city schools. Through fundraising, education, and community outreach we hope to make a strong impact in the lives of the families we serve that will last for generations.

Marketing Committee
The Marketing Committee is responsible for all HREBA’s efforts to be well known in the community. The functions of the committee include maintaining HREBA’s social media outlets including the HREBA website, communicating and promoting all HREBA educational and community events through social and print media. Bring your talent and join this committee.

Membership Committee
The Membership Committee will receive, review and process all membership applications. The committee has the important task of maintaining the membership database. The committee also produces the resource list of all paid members distributed at all community events.All HREBA members contribute to this committee…you can too!

Programs Committee
The Programs Committee is an integral part to the success of the monthly educational luncheons. These responsibilities include: procuring guest speakers for luncheons, managing the luncheon sponsorships, and managing the audio and visual equipment for each luncheon. This Committee also helps welcome all individuals at each luncheon. Join the Committee now!

Community Outreach Opportunities
The Community Outreach Committee is in the forefront towards the effort to educate the community we serve. The duties of this committee include building partnerships with other non-profit organizations to reach more of the community. Planning bilingual classes and curriculum to present to schools which we will introduce to students and their parents.You can make a difference… Join us!

Education Committee
The Education Committee has the important responsibility of organizing educational opportunities for HREBA members which include MCE classes and Financial training opportunities. This education will be used to further educate and coach the low and moderate income community. The education committee will also help recruit presenters and public speakers from HREBA members who will assist the Community Outreach efforts. Education is key! Join today!

Fundraising Committee
The Fundraising Committee has the responsibility of helping increase HREBAs financial position. Responsibilities include budgeting, help coordinate and execute all special and fundraising events. In addition, if the opportunity arises, this committee will complete and apply for available grant money.

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When you visit our website you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and website use information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our website.

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We may request that you voluntarily supply us with personal information, including your email address, postal address, home or work telephone number and other personal information for such purposes as correspondence, placing an order, requesting an estimate, or participating in online surveys.
If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail and telephone.

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Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of administering our business activities, providing service and support and making available other products and services to our customers and prospective customers. Occasionally, we may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. The lists used to send you product and service offers are developed and managed under our traditional standards designed to safeguard the security and privacy of all personal information provided by our users. You may at any time to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers.

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We use website browser software tools such as cookies and web server logs to gather information about our website users' browsing activities, in order to constantly improve our website and better serve our users. This information assists us to design and arrange our web pages in the most user-friendly manner and to continually improve our website to better meet the needs of our users and prospective users.
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Notice of New Services and Changes
Occasionally, we may use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. As a user of our website, you will be given the opportunity to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers by clicking on a response box when you receive such an offer or by sending us an email request.

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When you send confidential personal information to us on our website, a secure server software which we have licensed encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. The information is scrambled en route and decoded once it reaches our website.
Other email that you may send to us may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information such as Social Security, credit card, or account numbers to us through an unsecured email.

How Do We Protect Your Information?
Information Security -- We utilize encryption/security software to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss, alteration or destruction.
Evaluation of Information Protection Practices -- Periodically, our operations and business practices are reviewed for compliance with organization policies and procedures governing the security, confidentiality and quality of our information.
Employee Access, Training and Expectations -- Our organization values, ethical standards, policies and practices are committed to the protection of user information. In general, our business practices limit employee access to confidential information, and limit the use and disclosure of such information to authorized persons, processes and transactions.

How Can You Access and Correct Your Information?
You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our database by emailing us using the contact form provided to you within the site structure of our website.

Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties?
We may provide aggregate information about our customers, sales, website traffic patterns and related website information to our affiliates or reputable third parties, but this information will not include personally identifying data, except as otherwise provided in this privacy policy.

What About Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information?
We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.

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Donation Refund Policy

We are grateful for your donation and support of our organization. If you have made an error in making your donation or change your mind about contributing to our organization please contact us. Refunds are returned using the original method of payment. If you made your donation by credit card, your refund will be credited to that same credit card.

Automated Recurring Donation Cancellation

Ongoing support is important to enabling projects to continue their work, so we encourage donors to continue to contribute to projects over time. But if you must cancel your recurring donation, please notify us.